Carbon Sequestration in Plantations of Forest Trees in Latehar District, Jharkhand
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IOSR Journal of Agriculture and Veterinary Science (IOSR-JAVS) e-ISSN: 2319-2380, p-ISSN: 2319-2372. Volume 11, Issue 8 Ver. I (August 2018), PP 30-36 www.iosrjournals.org Carbon Sequestration in Plantations of Forest Trees In Latehar District, Jharkhand P.C.Mishra1, S.M.Prasad2 1. (Additional Principal Chief Conservator Of Forests, Govt. Of Jharkhand And Research Scholar, Jharkhand Rai University, Ranchi, India) 2. (Professor, Jharkhand Rai University, Ranchi, India) Corresponding Author: P.C.Mishra1 Abstract: The growing pollutants in the atmospheric air, marine aqua system and depletion in the ozone layer are the major causes of concern, since the resultant effects are the global temperature increase, diminishing polar ice glaciers and elimination of millions of varieties of biotic flora and fauna from the creation. As per the study by FAO, the rate of deforestation was 13 million hectares per annum assessed in the year 2007. The present study has been carried out to quantify the carbon sequestered and the resultant emission of oxygen along with calculating the monetary values thereof in the Latehar district of Jharkhand State, India. This study is confined to the artificial regeneration of forestry species. This district faces better rainfall than the Garhwa district, which was taken up in my previous study. Comparative analysis has been done for both the areas. In the present study the result shows that 27.0 tC ha-1 yr-1 has been sequestered including the soil organic carbon. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- Date of Submission: 01-08-2018 Date of acceptance: 19-08-2018 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- I. Introduction The major cause of concern throughout the world now has become the growing pollutants in the atmospheric air and marine aqua system, including the depletion in the Ozone layer. Due to heavy population growth, the major pressure is on the terrestrial ecosystem mainly in the developing and under developed countries. In the developed countries due to the growing industrial activities large amounts of atmospheric and water pollutants are causing heavy damages to the biodiversity with simultaneous other negative factors accelerating ozone depletion. The major question faced by the present civilisation is about the negative impact on the wellbeing of present and future generations. A.Chiabai, C.M.Travisi et al.,2009 in Economic evaluation of Forest Ecosystem Services: Methodology and Monetary estimates, has cited that forests are critically important habitats in terms of the biological diversity they contain and in terms of the ecological functions they supply(e.g., Miller et al., 1991; Mendelshon and Balick, 1995; Pearce, 1996, 1998, 1999). Similarly, the ecological and anthropocentric services of forest are many, although the area-species and the species-species services relationships are still debated (e.g. Pimm and Raven,2000) and the loss of forest ecosystem services driven by deforestation is expected to be serious if the rate of deforestation is maintained at the current alarming level of approximately 13 million hectares per year (FAO,2007). Till date, ecological life-support systems are declining worldwide (Ewing et al.,2010; MA,2005), biodiversity loss remains unabated (Butchard et al.,2010), and anthropogenic pressures have reached a scale where the risk of abrupt global environmental disruption can no longer be excluded (Rockstrom et al.,2009). The conservation movement has thereby failed to prevail upon the economic and socio- political drivers of change that are at the root of many present environmental problems (MA,2005; Steffen et al.,2004). Stabilization of Green House Gas emissions, though was not officially included in the Kyoto Protocol, it got its place in COP13 in Bali on December 2007. In a review promoted by the European Commission (Markandya et al.,2008), available values trend is site specific and forest type specific. Chiabai et al.,2009 has cited that forest area is expected to decrease by around 76 million hectares by 2050 worldwide. The Millenium Ecosystem Assessment(2005) became the real milestone achievement because for the first time it stressed the need to quantify and value the ecosystem services. As published in the report of LEAD India in 2007, the forests of Uttarakhand can accumulate Carbon at rate that ranges from 5-9 t C ha-1 yr-1 for good forests to 1.5-3 t C ha-1 yr-1 for poor quality forests (Singh et al.,1985). This translates to Carbon Sequestration values of almost US $ 65- US $ 125 ha-1 yr-1 . Kumar M., 2011 cited that “The Global forests cover 3870m. hectare according to Global Forest Resource Assessment 2000, and contain a total standing volume of 386 billion m3 of wood. The stock of mass woody vegetation is estimated at 422 billion tonnes dry matter in the above ground biomass including stems, branches and foliages (Anon,2001). Kauppi,2003 calculated the average standing stock at 10.9kg per m2 in terms of dry biomass and 5.45 kg per m2 in terms of carbon. The carbon absorbing capacity of plants is very DOI: 10.9790/2380-1108013036 www.iosrjournals.org 30 | Page Carbon Sequestration In Plantations Of Forest Trees In Latehar District, Jharkhand high in initial stages of growth because of high metabolic rate. One half of a tree‟s dry weight is carbon (Nowak,1994). Kumar M. has stated that “Thus carbon storage is directly related to size. Annual carbon sequestration is related to tree size and growth rates.” The India State of Forest Report,2017 estimated the total carbon stock in forests of India in 2017 that is 7082 million tonnes. The total carbon stock of Jharkhand State, India is 222.882 million tonnes and per hectare carbon stock is 94.6 tonnes. This report has not identified the differences of carbon stock in naturally regenerated forests and artificially regenerated forests. My last study reported in IOSR journal Volume II, Issue 5 Ver.II (May298), pp 01-06 was on the artificially regenerated forests of Garhwa district of Jharkhand State, India. The present study has been carried out in Latehar district of Jharkhand State with some differences in geo climatic factors. In order to compare the carbon stock in the same type of artificially regenerated forests, same formulae has been used in this study. This showed that 27.02 tC ha-1 yr-1 has been sequestered. II. Materials and Methods Study Area: The study area lies between Latitude 23035‟N to 2405‟N and Longitude 84020‟E to 84055‟E. The forests are more or less in compact blocks except for a few isolated patches in the North and North- Eastern part. The area comes under Latehar District and part of Lohardaga district. Configuration of the Ground: The vast majority of the forests lie on the hills with the exception of a part of Chandwa, Balumath and Latehar ranges wherein they occur on the plains and undulating grounds. The slopes of the hills are moderate to steep with various aspects. For want of adequate ground cover, sheet and gully erosion has become a continuous process even in apparently well-stocked forests. The entire area of Latehar forest division is drained by two principal rivers, namely, the North-Koel and the Damodar. The principal rivers and their main tributaries are (a) Auranga (b) Deonad (c) Sukri (d) Chaupat (e) Amanat (f) Ghagri and others. The river beds are generally rocky in most parts. Geology, Rock and Soil: This region forms a part of the Chhotanagpur Plateau comprising granitic rocks associated with large areas of sedimentary rocks. The elevation of the area around Latehar varies from 375m to 550m. above Mean Sea Level. The major part of the Latehar district is occupied by the Granitic rocks of Archean Age. The remnants of the earlier sedimentary and igneous rocks are known from the inclusion of phyllites and schists of varying dimensions in the granite mass. The inclusions are disposed along the gneissic foliation. The granite gneiss of this area is a part of the enormous intrusive mass known as Chottanagpur Granite gneiss. Among the various modifications of this rock the porphyritic types with varying coarseness and shape of the pheenocryste occur. The different Gondwana coalfields present in Latehar Forest Division are Auranga coal field and North Karanpura coal field. Southern part of this Division having Lohardaga forests has exploitable Bauxite deposits. Occurrences of coal, limestone, iron ore, lead, fireclay and bauxite are known in the Latehar division. A complex series of highly calcareous gneisses and schists with impure, granular, crystalline limestone occur in Diridag area. There is apparently no well defined zone of good quality lime stone. Lenticles and nodules of iron-ore are present in the Auranga coal field, but these are now not mined as a normal source of iron-ore.The dependence of dominant forest crops on underlying rock and soil is summarized as i) Poor Sal forest above Laterite rocks; ii) Sal and Mixed forest over Quartzite rocks; iii) Sal, Mixed & Bamboo forest on Gneiss rocks; iv) Mixed and Bamboo forest on Amphibolite rocks; v) Sal & mixed forest on Gondwana rocks and vi) Sal with bamboo and mixed forest on Alluvial rocks. Soil is often found mixed with boulders and pebbles. Often strata of Murom are found beneath the top soil. Soil is loam, sandy-loam, clayey-loam and at places clayey. Mineral contents and water holding capacities are poor. Climate: Mean annual temperature is 25.60C and mean annual rainfall is 1433mm. The hottest months are May and June and the coolest months are December and January. During the hot weather, high dry westerly westerly winds known as „Lohar‟ causes desiccation of soil and poses great impediment to the success of plantations. Methods: The principles are adopted as used in my previous study of Garhwa forest division.